This invention relates to an aviary for housing animals, and more particularly to an aviary having a main room and a separate vestibule with an interior door and an exterior door that allow ingress and egress to the aviary without permitting the housed animals access to the exterior door.
It is common in the construction of cages, especially bird aviaries, to have a single room with a single door allowing access to the interior of the cage. This type of cage is illustrated in the patent issued to Takimoto (U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,964). In the Takimoto device, the cage is made of wire mesh that is placed within an upper and lower frame. One side of the wire mesh has a single door therein that slides up and down long the wire mesh when opened and closed.
There are actually cages with multiple door construction, such as those of the Barman patent (U.S. Pat. No. Des. 379,681) and the Johnson patent (U.S. Pat. No. Des. 357,558). While there are multiple doors in both of these devices, the cages only have single rooms. Therefore, all the doors open into the same room allowing access to the same area. In both cases, if a person isn""t attentive, it is possible for the animal that is housed within the cage to escape from the cage when the door is open as each door opens into the atmosphere surrounding the cage.
The Payne reference (U.S. Pat. No. Des. 336,556) discloses a bird house with a squirrel guard located on the support post. The squirrel guard is for the purpose of preventing squirrels from climbing the pole and entering the bird house. The squirrel guard of the Payne device has a level, flat rim portion that would provide a solid support ledge should an animal manage to reach the ledge which is foreseeable if the Payne device is located near a tree, house or other structure where the squirrel could climb up an adjacent structure and leap to the ledge of the squirrel guard. The squirrel guard of the Payne device would only prevent rodents from climbing up the pole from the ground, but would not deter such progress if they came from an adjacent structure.
All the prior art is for cages of small sizes that are easily managed and movable and all have room for improvement.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an aviary for housing animals that allows easy access to and from the interior without allowing the animals housed within access to the exterior of the aviary.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an aviary that can be easily manufactured, yet is durable and economical.
To accomplish the task of allowing a person to enter and exit the aviary without allowing the animals housed within the aviary access to the exterior door of the aviary, the present invention is for an aviary having a floor, a plurality of side walls and a ceiling forming at least one main room and a vestibule separate from the main room. The vestibule has at least two doors, one interior door and one exterior door, that allow people to enter and leave the aviary while keeping the animals securely housed within the main room, away from the exterior door of the aviary. The aviary also has at least one footing with a pest shroud for keeping rodents and the like from climbing the footing up to the aviary.
The present aviaries are manufactured using known structural elements such as angle supports, flat bars, wire mesh, welded joints, cotter pins, screws and washers, and bolts in such as manner as to provide a frame construction that is solid and durable.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.